The weird thing about college football is that, for the people actually playing the games, the stakes are incredibly low. They aren't playing for money or bigger contracts. The vast majority will never play a down in the NFL. So, rivalry and smack talk is the currency. It would all be in good fun if it wasn't a multi-billion dollar industry and generally a moral cesspool, but, that aside, I kind of like Franklin's attidue here.

Take the dig at Pitt and be prepared to take one back when they eventually win. We're all grown ups. We can take it.

Pitt wants it to be a rivalry, that would help them recruit. I expect MD will be a rivalry before Pitt. MD appears to be competitive in recruiting, maybe due to good coaching, maybe the Underarmor $. Pitt suffers when competing against PSU, OSU, even WV. To be a rival they need to play PSU every year and they need to be better. Barely beating a PSU hurt by sanctions doesn't make it a rivalry. They would be relevant again if it were a rivalry. Not relevant.

A couple of points about the whole "Pitt" rivalry and the game itself:

1. I'm from the younger generation of PSU fans that doesn't know playing Pitt that much. In fact, until last Saturday, I had not seen a Penn State team beat Pitt. My only two experiences as a PSU fan are from our loss in 2000 (when I was at PSU) and last year's loss. All that said, this game had a different feel to it. I didn't just want to beat them, I wanted to destroy them. That feels like a rivalry.

2. I'd imagine that Pitt fans feel a little bit about our projected indifference much the same that we feel about OSU Fans description of us.

3. I think having a legit rival like this on the schedule is a good thing.

4. Watching Pitt fans get all up in a tizzy about Franklin's comments is interesting. For one thing, their coach claiming to take the high road is laughable considering his behavior over the past few years. Additionally, I saw Franklin's dig at Pitt as EXACTLY the type of stuff that rivalries are made of and a tacit admission that Penn State feels differently about Pitt than other schools. If anything, it is a validation of the rivalry that they've been screaming about.

5. I rewatched the game last night. Man, these two teams are NOT close in talent. We have speed flying all over the field in a way that I've never seen a PSU team have before. If McSorely is on target a bit more in the first half this one becomes a laugher early. Despite how close the score was, this never felt in doubt. We were the markedly better team.

6. McSorely seems to not trust his O-line to provide him with a pocket to step up into. To be fair, I don't blame him. He made a lot of plays last year getting outside the pocket. But in the Pitt game, it looked like the tackles had their ends sealed on a number of occasions only to have McSorely try to move outside of them and kind of generate his own pressure. Perhaps it will take him a bit longer to be able to trust in a consistent pass protection, it is certainly understandable.

7. Saquan Barkley is by far the best back I've ever seen in blue and white. Enjoy EVERY moment of watching him this year because guys like him don't come around that often. He is incredibly talented but I love watching his focus on the field. There was a play where he was just a bit away from breaking it and as the camera panned him walking back to the huddle you could see him moving his shoulder trying to mimic what he should have done to break the tackle. This dude is locked in. And he is scary good. Every time he touches the ball you're on the edge of your seat. Who is the last player to be like that? Derrick Williams?

8. Our secondary, albeit against non-impressive passing teams, has looked really good. The way they break on the ball and play physically is awesome. And no one there seems to be a liability in the run game either. If we can sure up the linebacker play and get decent production from the DL we could be pretty darn good on that side of the ball.

9. Special teams is different than anytime I can remember as a PSU fan. Guys are flying to the ball and making plays. For the first time in a long time it looks like we have premier athleticism on the field there.

10. I don't know what this team's ceiling is, but I have to tell you, I'm so excited to see the rest of the season.

11. Pitt had better get used to losing to us because if we continue on similar trajectories with similar recruiting, the gap is getting wider, not smaller.

Nat@PSU wrote: I'd imagine that Pitt fans feel a little bit about our projected indifference much the same that we feel about OSU Fans description of us.

I may have posted on the previous version of this site that my old roommate and friend is now the director of the Pitt Band. In fact, he conducted the National Anthem in Beaver Stadium last Saturday. Anyway, I met up with him two years ago when Pitt played (and lost to) Navy in the Military Bowl. After catching up a good bit, the discussion turned to Pitt/Penn State. There was some animosity amongst the band members that a Penn State guy (he was president of the Blue Band and earned 2 degrees there but was coming from Oregon State) was taking over but he put that to rest pretty fast and earned the bands trust, which is no surprise to me. He is still amazed at how much the Pitt fans obsess over us; during the parade before the game with Navy, a fan came up to him to say "Penn State Sucks!" He kindly let him now they weren't playing Penn State today. "Yeah, but they still suck!"

I suppose you are right Nat... Even us beating tOSU in some big games, we will only be spoilers to them and never on the level of Michigan.

Pitt and N&D were probably the two biggest rivalries for PSU when PSU was an independent. There was parity between the programs so games were competitive, the teams were all independents so they competed for bowl slots with each other and with Pitt you had the geographic factor that puts the two schools players / coaches / fans /alum in proximity to each other of a regular basis. In the case of ND there was probably an envy factor for PSU due to the way the national media fawns all over ND.

The rivalries died when PSU joined the B1? and the teams did not play on a regular basis. Playing these schools now is like playing USC, UT, Auburn, Texas or Bama - it's a name brand so you want win because it has visibility but the contempt that builds up over a decade of back and forth doesn't exist in a home and home series.

I don't see OSU-PSU as a rivalry because there has not been parity - OSU has probably won 3 out of 4 games.

That said - from a logical standpoint I know it's more important to beat OSU, UM because they are divisional conference games against Top 10 teams. Emotionally I like romping Pitt because it shuts Narduzzi and their obnoxious fans up - and I bet PSU alum in western PA really liked Saturday.

I have to assume you are right, Lama. I was up on the Maryland Eastern Shore during the game and the win felt good. I think that, with the Pitt fans along I-79, it was an even better feeling for the good guys!

You make a good point about the independent status back in the day. Not to mention the fact that most games were not broadcast or streamed or beamed or whatever. Big names meant TV games which meant the almighty dollar to your school, plain and simple. So, if you went to Penn State, you routed for Penn State. If you went to Temple or Drexel or Youngstown or some other college that didn't get coverage, and you liked football, you picked a team to follow (kind of like how so many older folks followed the Atlanta Braves back in the WTBS days). In PA, there was Pitt and Penn State. Notre Dame had a big following as well; maybe the catholic connection? So much so that when they came to play Pitt somewhere around the turn of the millennium, the ND fans subsidized the football program, or were raped by it, I can't decide. Maybe both... Cheap seat season tickets in the Ketchup Bowl, on sale in early summer, were like $50; single games tickets (Va Tech, WVU, Miami and also-rans) didn't go on sale until sometime in early August and were all $5 except ND was $40. So, an ND fan does the math, buys season tickets early and sells or gives away most of the other games while providing Pitt a record sale year.

I assume they did a similar move last season; or forced Penn State buyers to also buy tickets to some other game...

Not to mention the fact that most games were not broadcast or streamed or beamed or whatever.

I remember in 1987 or 1988 Penn State played BYU or someone similar out in Utah and there was no way to watch the game. We ended up watching other games and watching the scroll so we could follow the score. PSU lost that game. Man have things changed.

What's weird is that it's 2017 and there are at least baseball teams that do not broadcast every single game. The Colorado Rockies have games that they simply do not put on TV.